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ESHRE: High Coffee Intake Lowers Pregnancy Rate in IVF

ESHRE: High Coffee Intake Lowers Pregnancy Rate in IVF

(HealthDay News) – For women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), consumption of more than five cups of coffee per day is associated with a significant reduction in the clinical pregnancy rate.

To examine the effect of coffee consumption on clinical pregnancy and livebirth rates, Ulrik S. Kesmodel, MD, and colleagues from Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, conducted a prospective follow-up study involving women undergoing 3,959 IVF and ICSI cycles. At the start of treatment and for each treatment cycle, data were obtained on coffee consumption.

The researchers found that consumption of more than five cups of coffee per day correlated with a 50% reduction in the clinical pregnancy rate (relative risk, 0.5) and a 40% reduction in the livebirth rate (relative risk, 0.60; 95% confidence interval, 0.3–1.2). Consumption of one to five cups of coffee per day had no effect. The association persisted even on restriction of the analysis to the first treatment cycle.

"There is limited evidence about coffee in the literature," Kesmodel said in a statement. "So we would not wish to worry IVF patients unnecessarily. But it does seem reasonable, based on our results and the evidence we have about coffee consumption during pregnancy, that women should not drink more than five cups of coffee a day when having IVF."